Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.

I just joined this forum because I really need some help.
My lovely baby fahaka, Swayze, is in need of parasite treatment. The only medicin Ive been able to get a hold on is JBL Gyrodol plus 250. Does anyone have any experience with this? It is a type of praziquantel.
The bottle tells me to put 10 ml per 50 liter water (my tank is 530 liter) and do a 30% waterchange 48 hours later. But I read somewhere that its better to soak the food in the medicin instead of just putting it directly into the water. But then I read somewhere else that I shouldnt soak the food in it if it doesnt say so on the bottle.
What should I do??? Im scared to harm Swayze if I do it the wrong way.
Please help.

My Puffers: 1 GSP (Microfiche) RIP, 1 Monotrete Turgidus (Leon) in a 30gal. 1 Monotrete suvattii in a 40 gal FW. 120 gallon BW with 3 juvenile Dragon Gobies (so cool). 55 gal with a 2" GSP named Hank. 180 gallon being set up for a Fahaka in the next few months!

Hi! That product is more targeted for an external parasite treatment not internal but you should be able to use it. Dissolve part of one of the tabs in a small amount of tank water and soak some food in it. You need to treat IP's internally to kill them, not through the skin. The reason a lot of people say not to soak the food is two fold: First fish generally will stop eating the food because of the taste. This is combated by also adding garlic to the food. Garlic is a great appetite stimulant. The second reason is that you do see fish die off after treatment. This is generally due to a starting heavy load of IP's, either from die off and decomposition of the IP's or the fish is already weakened too far by the IP load and becomes overwhelmed by them.

The key to treatment is to get food that is treated in to the digestive tract and to get that treatment started early.

"Darwin swings...annnnnnd a miss. Boy Jim, Chuck's suffered at the plate tonight. He's 0 for 3 and I'm not sure he's recovered from that shoulder pull a few weeks ago. I'll bet the front office is re-thinking that contract."

Thank you.
The medicin Ive got is liquid. Do I still need to mix it with water? How do I get the garlic in it? Just soak a clove in with the food and medicin? How long should it soak for?
For how long should I do this? Just once or several days?

Sorry to ask so many questions but Ive never done it before and I just want it to be right.

Swayze seems happy and im not even sure he's got IP, but better safe than sorry. Its been a while since Ive seen any poop and I read that it could be constipation and/or IPs.

The medicin is liquid. Should I still mix it with water? Do I just soak a garlic clove with it or how do I get the garlic in it?
How long should it soak for and for how long should I keep treating him?

My Puffers: 1 GSP (Microfiche) RIP, 1 Monotrete Turgidus (Leon) in a 30gal. 1 Monotrete suvattii in a 40 gal FW. 120 gallon BW with 3 juvenile Dragon Gobies (so cool). 55 gal with a 2" GSP named Hank. 180 gallon being set up for a Fahaka in the next few months!

With the liquid just soak it with a small amount of the med straight. As for the garlic, you can crush a clove in a bowl or small cup and put the food in there for a few min or you can buy a garlic extract. Kent makes Garlic Guard that works well.

"Darwin swings...annnnnnd a miss. Boy Jim, Chuck's suffered at the plate tonight. He's 0 for 3 and I'm not sure he's recovered from that shoulder pull a few weeks ago. I'll bet the front office is re-thinking that contract."